The government last night released the names of 170 senior civil servants who earn in excess of £150,000 – more than the prime minister's wage – in the first step towards publishing swaths of data about public spending.

The controversial move reveals the identities of dozens of senior Whitehall mandarins who earn up to 10 times the national average wage and cost the public purse a total of £29,254,835.

The highest earner on the list is John Fingleton, the chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading, who earns between £275,000 and £279,999 a year – nearly double the prime minister's £142,500 salary.

David Nicholson, the chief executive of the NHS, earns between £255,000 and £259,999 – including £45,000-£50,000 for a rented flat and expenses for living in London. Several more are paid six figure salaries but only work part time.

The total cost of the senior civil service could however be much higher. The cabinet office confirmed that they had only published the details of government employees who agreed to their earnings bracket being published. Eleven people refused to reveal the information and the government chose not to publish a further three after it was deemed "inappropriate".

The coalition plans to publish the name, job title and earnings of every civil service employee earning more than £58,000 by next year, promising to "pull back the curtains to let light into the corridors of power", said the Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude.

On Friday the coalition will also publish a database of all government spending programmes. The move has put the coalition on target for a furious battle with the unions, who have promised to protect their employees' privacy and fight for an opt-out, so civil servants can choose to withhold personal information.

But the coalition has made it central to plans to tackle criticisms that there are too many high earners in the public sector. Maude said: "Transparency is at the heart of the government's programme ... All departments will open up their data in the weeks ahead.

"We are pulling back the curtains to let light into the corridors of power. By being open and accountable we can start to win back people's trust. Openness will not be comfortable for us in government; but it will enable the public to hold our feet to the fire. This way lies better government. Transparency is key to our efficiency drive, and will enable the public to help us to deliver better value for money in public spending."

Today's figures do not reveal precise salaries but a £5,000 bracket into which each earner falls. It contains 172 names. Only 32 are women, suggesting that there is a glass ceiling on the careers of women in the senior civil service.

Joe Harley, the director general of the Department for Work and Pensions, earns between £245,000 and £249,999. It makes his income higher than that of Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defence staff at the Ministry of Defence (£240,000–£244,999) and even Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service, who earns between £235,000 and £239,999.

Most of the salaries of permanent secretaries, the most senior civil servant in each government department, are already published in annual reports, but dozens more are revealed in today's lists and it is first time they have been published jointly for comparison.

Jeremy Heywood, the permanent secretary at No 10, earns between £150,000 and £154,999.

Sir Michael Scholar, the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, also earns between £150,000 and £154,999 and works "at least three days per week".

Matt Tee, the permanent secretary for government communications, introduced by Labour to counter spin allegations, earns between £160,000 and £164,999.

The Ministry of Defence dominates the list, with 28 entries, and outside the main government departments the schools inspectorate Ofsted lists five staff members earning more than £150,000 a year, including Christine Gilbert, the chief inspector, who is on between £195,000 and £199,999.

Jonathan Baume, the general secretary of the FDA union for senior civil servants, said: "Before this goes further we need to have a serious discussion about what it is ministers are seeking to achieve. How do we maintain and get the balance between the public's right to know and personal privacy right?

"What are the practicalities about keeping this accurate and up to date? People's jobs change weekly, how do you keep it up to date? Ultimately there are privacy issues but it depends what formats it comes in, what will be made available and what the opt-out will be."

Michael White: I'm sceptical that the coalition's fast-unfolding policy of transparency on public sector pay and contracts will deliver either the efficiency or the greater happiness to which Francis Maude aspires